Settling Things Again
by XxOoSolanaSkylarXxOo
Summary: Cloud just won't learn after the first talk. His best friend told him, now, looks like the source of the problem, a dead flower-girl to be exact, has to get some sense into him. Set after Advent Children and before DoC. Clerith, 1st fanfic, so no flames!


_- To start off my very first fanfiction, I decided to start with a little one-shot. Not much, but hey, its a start, right? (Dodges tomatoes) *Sighs* Thanks Grandma for the support. Lol, but okay, it's about a couple I really don't like that much, but it's called "Testing to see if I can handle writing about a couple I truly don't like at all". Pretty much a Final Fantasy VII (7 those who dislike roman numerals) Fanfic. Cloud and Aerith, with a bit of Cloud and Tifa, but more of coming to terms, its a friendship talk (Boo for me!) Will I make it alive? Let's find out boys and girls! -_

Cloud Strife sighed heavily, eyes scanning the desk for any kind of distraction from his mountain of paper work. His blond spikes were scattered in a jumble of directions, though strangely, the spikes were still managing to hold their pointy form. His eyes began to turn a gloomy blue color as he found a certain "distraction" on his desk. A picture.

The picture was a remembrance of his failure to save the one he loved, along with the one she loved, back in the deserts of Midgar, where he was left to fend off 1,000 or more soldier infantrymen. Cloud held the picture, trying desperately to keep a steady hand, but failed miserably. His hand was shaking tragically as he held the picture up to the light. Aerith Gainsborough was holding a staff, the scenery of Cosmo Canyon in the background, the moonlight shining on her pretty braided brunette hair, or at least the bangs, which defied about as much gravity as his spikes did. Her pink dress and trademark dark pink jacket were covered in dirt, probably from after fighting numerous creatures to get to Cosmo Canyon. Still, even after that, she had a smile plastered on her face, a sincere one at that, one that would never leave him alone in his nightmares.

"I failed her." He muttered darkly, ready to throw the picture across the room, but then stopped, placing it gently in its original spot on the desk.

He groaned and dropped his head onto the desk, running his hands through his hair in agitation. Just then, footsteps reached his ears, faint ones going up the stairs, from the bar to the hallway, then getting louder and louder as they stopped at his doorway. "I'm guessing you didn't finish the paperwork just yet?" a feminine voice teased him. Cloud turned his head to see his roommate and childhood friend Tifa Lockhart leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and looking at him, eyes scanning the desk, then back to him.

Her wine-colored eyes were laced with concern, as usual, and he sighed again. "Sorry. I was just thinking..." he was lost for words as to what he would tell her. She would give him another lecture about lingering in the past. "Thinking about how she must hate you so much! I mean, how could you let her just die? Even if you had no power over it, still! She holds YOU responsible young man!" Tifa mock-snapped at him, voice dripping with sarcasm. Then, she walked over to him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. She was the only person, and Aerith, if she was still around, to make any physical contact with him, only because they were such good friends. He looked up and saw her eyes were focused on him, and he was a bit surprised.

Instead of that wife-like look she had, it was more of a mother kind of look in her eye. She noticed his confusion and smiled gently. "I know how much you love her. Who am I to get in the way? I know you were oblivious to my feelings, I had a giant crush on you by the way, but now, I leave that in the past. Aerith will always have a hold on your heart, and there's nothing I can do except be a good friend to the both of you. But anyways, Aerith never once blamed you. It was Sephiroth who stuck the blade through her chest, as I recalled. Not you."

He still wasn't satisfied with this, but was shocked to hear it was the other way around, that Tifa had a crush on him. He nodded carelessly, and she sighed and turned around, walking out the door, but murmured something Cloud couldn't catch. He only heard, "She...come and show...where her heart..." and turned back to his paper work.

Just then, his eyes saw a white light, and then he was welcomed back to the meadow he met Aerith at on his way to get Denzel and Marlene from the silver-haired remnants of Sephiroth. She was there, waiting, this time facing him, with a smile on her lips, as usual. This time, he wasn't as haunted as he would have been, but only returned the smile with a quirk of the edges of his lips. He walked over to her, and she took his hands in hers, eyes locked with his.

"I thought I had this conversation with you last time?" she asked, amusement in her voice, and he chuckled lightly and nodded. She put his hands back to his sides, and put a hand to his cheek. "Well, it's still true now. Back at the Golden Saucer, I still meant what I said; you did remind me of Zack, but now, I moved on and see much more than that in you. I'll always be watching you Cloud, and I love you. Just remember that, and you'll be fine. Zack agrees and says it wasn't your fault, by the way. He will also, as creepy as it may sound, be watching you." Cloud let out a full-fledged and honest laugh, one he hadn't let out since he was 15. Aerith was a little surprised, but shook it off and smiled. "I like your laugh. It's a nice change from silence."

At that moment, they pulled into a tender and passionate kiss. They pulled back slowly, neither wanted it to end. Aerith was blushing a bit, a light crimson color that Cloud thought to look adorable on her, and he gave a cocky smirk.

"I know, I'm a good kisser." he teased and she laughed.

"Oh you! Glad to see you happy again! It's better than gloomy emo Cloud!" she teased back, shoving him lightly.

He gave her a fake insulted look and pretended to be mad at her, walking away. Then it hit him that he had nowhere to be "mad" and run off to. Aerith giggled and ran ahead to him.

"Going somewhere? Well actually, you have to go back. But don't worry, it's almost night time, a break from work for you, a nice date for me! Only if you fall asleep though!" she wagged her finger at him, and he smiled his usual smile, nodding vigorously.

Then, Cloud's vision returned to his desk and he smiled. Not that dumb excuse for a smile either, but a true one. Then he looked up to the ceiling. "Maybe work isn't that bad after all." He silently joked, and returned to his work, humming happily. (A/N: It's to Aerith's theme too! XD How cute for us, unsuspecting for him!)

_- Not that bad, right? And look, I'm alive! Not too sure if I got the details right, Cloud may seem OOC at the end, but he's happy. Happy people tend to get out of hand in my stories! Oopsies! Won't happen again (NOT!). Anyways, I am a die-hard Cloti fan, I don't like Clerith that much, but I will admit, it looked like he loved the chick in the series. But, I will not voice my opinion here! Thanks for reading guys, review if you really feel like it, I just want people to read and or PM me if you think I did good. I will work on better vocab and not use such "10-12 year-old vocabulary". I am 12, but who cares. I'm awesome at ELA! -_


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